Silhouette Mirage

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Treasure and Working Designs team up to bring us a 2D gaming masterpiece.

By David Zdyrko

Treasure is generally regarded among industry veterans to be one of the best developers of original 2D action games. Just about every title that it has produced since its inception has been regarded as one of the very best games in its respective genre.

Games like Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy, and Alien Soldier for the Sega Genesis/MegaDrive were some of the best and most innovative games of the 16-bit era. For the next generation platforms, where 3D games became all the rage, Treasure continued to show its genius by releasing games like Guardian Heroes and Radiant Silvergun for the Sega Saturn.

Guardian Heroes was a very innovative 2D, sprite-based, action game that was regarded by many hardcore Saturn fans to be one of the best games released on the system in the United States. Radiant Silvergun, while never finding its way to U.S. shores, is a brilliant overhead shooter that brought imaginative new play mechanics to the genre. Accordingly, just about everyone that has had the pleasure to experience Radiant Silvergun considers it to be one of the greatest shooters ever created.

Treasure has managed to add groundbreaking new ideas and play mechanics to every single new title that it releases. This trend doesn't stop with its latest release, Silhouette Mirage, which has been brought stateside by Working Designs.

Gameplay Silhouette Mirage's gameplay centers on a very unique gameplay element that comes into effect as the world features inhabitants that are primarily either Silhouettes or Mirages. The Silhouettes and Mirages can be differentiated by their colors; Silhouettes are blue and Mirages are red.

The game's main character, Shyna, who is called the "Messenger of Justice" and is sent out to save the world, has both characteristics of Silhouettes and Mirages. Depending on which direction she is facing, Shyna will be either red or blue, taking on the characteristics of either the Silhouettes or Mirages.

This is where the game's complex play mechanics first come into play. When attacking an enemy of the same characteristic (Silhouette on Silhouette or vice versa), the shots will steal spirit power from the enemy and add them to Shyna's bar. When attacking enemies with the opposite characteristic, the shots will cause damage. This seemingly minute element adds an enormous amount of depth to the Silhouette Mirage's play mechanics.

The game's innovation in design doesn't stop there. Shyna has the ability to perform a wide-array of inventive basic actions and special moves. These include basic actions like sliding, dashing, grabbing, and throwing and more advanced moves like the Cash Bash, Grand Slam and Parasite Bomb. What separates this from other games with large move lists is the fact that each can play important roles in progressing through the game. Mastering a particular move or play mechanic can play an integral part in defeating some of the game's very complex boss characters.

Working Designs is well known for enhancing the game in whatever areas it deems necessary, with a particular interest in increasing the game's challenge. In order to do this in Silhouette Mirage, WD increased the cost of the weapons, made the enemies cause more damage, and caused the weapons to slowly deplete the player's spirit power as it's used.

For the most part, these changes did wonders in improving the depth and challenge. Causing the weapons to drain spirit power adds an extra strategic element to the game because it forces players to keep mind of how much spirit power they have left and attack accordingly. That change plus increasing the cost of the weapons also increased the challenge by making it impossible for players to take the game's most powerful weapon and just using it solely throughout the game.

However, the increasing the cost of the weapons does have a downside. For players looking to go through the game at a fast pace, just quickly destroying all enemies in their path, it'll be impossible to buy and experience all of the game's weapons. In order to get enough money to buy a variety of new weapons, players will have to use the Cash Bash move on just about every single enemy they encounter. While this does reward those who take the time to do this, it also slows down the pace of the game.

Graphics The game's 2D graphics won't do much to impress most people who are used to flashy 3D polygonal graphics in their games. Conversely, Treasure has managed to do wonders in pushing the 2D power of the PlayStation to its limits. There are numerous large sprites on screen at once and the backgrounds contain several layers of parallax. However, it must be noted that certain background elements and animations that were in the Sega Saturn version of the game that was released several years ago in Japan did not make it into the PlayStation port.

Sound Silhouette Mirage excels in the area of music and sound. The soundtrack not only fits the game like a leather glove on a Heisman Trophy running back, but it is something that fans of videogame music will want in their collection.

The sound effects are clear and nearly all of the game's main characters have voices. WD is known for its quality voice acting and Silhouette Mirage won't let its fans down. While some of Shyna's yells may get annoying towards the end of the game, it has nothing to do with the English voice acting.

The Verdict

The first thing that I should mention here is that I was a recent employee of Working Designs and was at the company when the development of Silhouette Mirage was in the beta-testing stages. This may be considered by some as a conflict of interest, but the reality is that it's only a conflict if I didn't have any integrity.

The truth of the matter is that I've been a long fan of both Working Designs and Treasure (I'm sure my three paragraph long homage to the company hinted to that fact). But, the reason why I'm a fan of these companies is because of the GAMES. I've consistently enjoyed the games released by both WD and Treasure. If either releases a title that I don't like, I won't like it.

The bottom line is that Silhouette Mirage is a brilliant 2D-action game that deserves a lot of praise. This game genre has been around since '80s, so it's awe-inspiring that a company would be able to bring such new and innovative ideas to something that's been done for so long.

With that said, this obviously isn't a title for everyone. There aren't 3D worlds, breathtaking polygonal graphics, and countless other elements that many of today's gamers are looking for in their games. This is pure 2D action at its finest.

10PresentationFrom the manual design and disc art to the clean intro animation and new additions to the loading screens and ending credits. Typical job from WD.

7GraphicsYou won't show off this game to your friends because of the eye-candy. Does push the 2D power of the PS it the max.

9SoundWonderful soundtrack, great sound effects, and solid English voice acting. The voices range from average to very good. Though, some of the main character's may get annoying towards the end.

9GameplayRevolutionary new play mechanics and an insane amount of depth. One minus is that in order to get enough cash to buy the cool weapons, you'll have to do things that slows down the game's pace.

9Lasting AppealThe game can be beaten in a few hours by a skilled player, but there are five paths that can be taken through the game. In typical WD fashion, players are rewarded for taking the time to do that.